That Time I Woke Up From a “Bill Coma” and Started Saving My $$$!

You know when you’ve paid a bill for so long that it just becomes habit and you don’t even pay attention to it anymore? Because at one point in your life it made sense, but now who knows? (Because of the whole not paying attention part?)

I call that being in a “bill coma,” and it was exactly my life 3 years ago despite being a personal finance blogger and knowing better (!!). Then one day I saw something from Mr Money Mustache and BAM – woke right up from my coma and started challenging every expense around me!

Here’s the clip that snapped me out of it:

“The most important thing to note is that cutting your spending rate is much more powerful than increasing your income. The reason is that every permanent drop in your spending has a double effect: it increases the amount of money you have left over to save each month, and it permanently decreases the amount you’ll need every month for the rest of your life.”

Permanently decreases the amount you’ll need every month for the rest of your life.OMG!!! YES!! The less you need to live off, the less you need to earn – d’uh!! Why do I keep paying all these bills without even thinking about it?? And why am I not going over them one-by-one to see what I can hack?

And thus, the Challenge Everything mission was born. Which lasted a solid year and a half, ultimately saving me over $7,500 before I eventually stopped tracking it all. And the best part? My lifestyle wasn’t affected in the least! In fact, it got better because it forced me to be more aware of *other* parts of my life as well, like my accumulation of “stuff” and even my TV habits (i.e. WHY AM I PAYING SO MUCH FOR IT WHEN I RARELY WATCH??)

So the first point of today’s post is to *shake yourself awake* from your own comas you may currently be in, and then spend a few minutes going down each of your recurring bills and seeing if there’s anything that can be done about them.

Because remember – unlike one-off expenses, every dollar you can cut off with monthly expenses means another dollar saved every month *in the future* too! And that $hit builds up!

I started with the following three bills and then went from there:

My car insurance bill

My cable/tv/internet bill

And then the second point of today’s post – my cell phone bill! Always the most annoying switch, but the one that typically yields the most savings.

Every FIRE blogger at the time was talking about a hot new cell phone company called “Republic Wireless“, and after reading post and post about it, and seeing friend after friend moving over to them (even Mr Money Mustache himself!), I finally decided to join the crowd and go all in myself.

And boy has it paid off :) The amount of savings I now get month after month?

$100! BOOM! Which now means I’ve saved over $3,600 over the past three years for practically the same quality phone and service as I had before my awakening.

Which brings us to some fun news for anyone who’s ever been wanting to try them out :)

All new customers who bring their own Android phone over get 6 months of FREE service this week! $180 instant savings!

(They hook you up with their $30/mo plan)

More info on this promotion can be found here, but the important part is to a) check first to make sure your phone is compatible, and then b) start the process sooner than later as you only have a handful of days to take them up on the offer (and less if they run out of free SIM cards…).

Oh, and probably good if you knew what types of plans they offer, eh? :)

Some other things to note:

Their service rides on wifi, which is how they’re able to offer such low rates (so if you have no/crappy wifi at your house, they’re not for you)

The calling sounds pretty much the same as any other type of calling

When you’re on wifi, talk/texts/data/etc is unlimited. When you’re off wifi, it switches over to cell towers which is where the data limits come in (but talking is still unlimited)

There are no contracts whatsoever – you can come and go as you please!

You have to have an Android phone to use RW – no iPhones (womp womp)

As I mentioned, I’ve been with them now for about 3 years and I still very much recommend them to anyone willing to hear out my opinion :) Like other carriers they’re not perfect, but nothing’s been a deal breaker so far and I continue on my merry way. Just good ol’ reliable service without a crap ton of fees attached.

And lastly, if you don’t have a compatible phone and/or just really want to test them out once and for all, shoot over to Rockstar Finance after 6 am today and you can enter our giveaway for a free Moto G Plus phone!! Which also comes with 6 months of free service! :)

Whether you’re in the market for a new carrier or not though, DO make sure you’re not fast asleep in any comas like I was… Spending money for stuff you love and find worth it = good. Spending too much money on stuff you don’t even know why you still have = bad.

Re-check all those priorities and see if they still match up! Current you is not the same as old you! :)

******FYI: I write this post as an ambassador to Republic Wireless which means I get compensated to share my thoughts on them. Which I gladly do as I wholeheartedly agree with their mission, and even more so with all the dollars they’ve saved me over the past three years :) Thanks, guys!

That Time I Woke Up From a “Bill Coma” and Started Saving My $$$! was last modified: May 17th, 2017 by J. Money

I have a friend that has republic wireless and he loves every minute of it. I have a work phone so I haven’t had a reason to buy one but if I ever did, I’m definitely moving over to Republic Wireless especially since they have really upgraded their phone game in the last couple of years.

The coverage for republic is the same as T-Mobile. They use their network underneath. They use to use sprint. The T-Mobile network is better. We have a grandfathered unlimited plan with them on 3G sprint and a new plan on the 4g T-Mobile. I also convinced my mom to switch to one of the new plans. In three years the only complaints: my mom hates that phones keep getting bigger (nothing to do with the service) and my old sprint phone occasionally takes a second attempt to dial out (not experiencing this on the new plan, it’s a slight annoyance but calls are fully clear and rarely if ever drop once connected).

Interesting, I wasn’t aware of this. I thought they still used sprint which is much better for where I’m located. I had t-mobile service on my Iphone through ting and it was horrible. Now I have Sprint through ting and it is much better. Depends on where you live I guess, If that is the case I will stay with ting and not move to republic.

My husband and I have tried T-mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. We found Verizon to have the best coverage. We share a monthly plan with two other friends and pay $70 for both of us. I used to use Google voice and a prepaid account to save. It worked wonderfully, but Mr. FAF insist having reliable signal and data can benefit us tremendously (i.e. listening to podcast on my commute, GPS).

I woke up from my bill coma only to find that I was still paying for my gym membership from 7 months ago. That same day, at a doctor’s visit for a routine checkup, I was told I am looking a bit heavier than usual (heavier is a medical term for fat).

That’s funny. I LOVE correctness (is it even a word?) in the States. In Mother Russia a doctor would just said to me, “You know, you look bigger than usual” or “I don’t want to have a fat patient, you need to start doing something with it”

I paid $20 for a GYM for over a year and visited 10 times only. So I cancelled my membership and started using public parks for my exercises. And I have tell you it’s been working great

Unfortunately, I cancelled before the doctor informed me about being heavy. After the doctor’s, I went back to the gym to un-cancel and they made me re-register which included their one-time initiation fee, but they gave me a free t-shirt for being a “new” member. The t-shirt was a size too small (Tommy Boy – “Fat guy in a little coat”!)

I’ve been with Ting for awhile because they let you use your Iphone. They are pretty good but Republic offers a better deal for me based on my usage. As luck would have it (maybe not), my Iphone broke so now I have an android that Republic supports….I may be moving service very soon! :)

Whenever I read these posts about RW, I feel really lucky to have the plan I have. I share a t-mobile family plan with brother and both our wives (unlimited everything plus free streaming just about everything) for under $30 per line. If I didn’t have such a great plan, I’d switch to RW in a heart beat, especially with this new deal.

Lucky! Up here in Canada the choices are pretty slim when it comes to wireless networks. They all charge $60-80 for a basic package. To be fair they have a lot of geography to cover but some additional options/competition would be nice.

Used to be the same here until wifi and internet services started coming about..

I wonder if you could somehow use a wifi phone at home and then switch to a normal one when out and about? and just get the lowest package w/out internet and data and what not when out? Probably too annoying, but wouldn’t be surprised if others reading our blogs are hacking it all together :)

Thanks for sharing and for pointing out RW! Previously when I checked them out the service wasn’t great in my area but I just plugged in my zip code and Voila!

I recently read an article about insurance rates which said that since loyal, long-term customers don’t check or question their rates, they pay more than they should. It’s good to shop around every year.

Oh, totally! Insurances are notorious about that – and nobody likes dealing with it so it slowly creeps up over time until you finally get smacked in the face with it and finally decide to do something about it, haha…

(That’s how it eventually came to be w/ my cable bill actually :) Started at like $100/mo then $130 then $150 then $200 and was like wha????? then got lowered to $180 then $150 then $130, then it goes back up to $150 and $160 and then finally I cut it out completely and now we just have internet only for $59.99 a month – jeesh)

This is something that a lot of people don’t think about. Bills feel set and unchangeable, especially when on autopay. Three or four years ago we replaced cable with Netflix and Hulu and saved $100/month. That’s $1,200/year and didn’t negatively impact our lives at all! In fact, having to actively select a show rather than mindlessly turning on Food Network means that we end up spending less time watching TV and more time doing things that are better for our minds.

A few months ago I switched from Verizon to Google Fi. It has been great so far. I’m saving $20-30/month and I’m spending less time staring at my phone. I’ve found that knowing that I get money back if I use less than my allotted data has led me to spend less time checking Twitter and more time observing the world around me.

I wish some of the lower cost cell phone providers had better coverage in my area. I’m left with the the big three Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. Sprint does not have great coverage in my area, although the have the best cost. :(

Interesting concept! Your post makes me think about the monthly bills that I pay and whether I can cut any of them out of my life. Fortunately, most of them are necessities (i.e. internet, water, electricity). But instead of eliminating them altogether, I can try to keep them down to save more. Eating out is still something my husband and I struggle with though.

Yeah, switching phones is never fun/fast, but fortunately it has one of the highest payoffs so I def. recommend switching, even if you don’t go with RW. Some of their competitors to also look into are Ting and Project Fi (Google) as you’ll see others talking about here. FWIW :)

I had the old Moto X for almost 3 years. Loved RW but with the switch to T-Mobile came my switch to regular old Sprint. I would consider project Fi but the pixel is way too expensive right now and I don’t want the 5X which apparently has a terrible camera. Camera and reception is all I really care about. Used to have T-Mobile, although it was a long time ago, whenever I went into any building it was on SOS…and oddly, Sprint has excellent coverage where I am at. Considered Boost Mobile also and will probably in the future. But I use this phone for my job and I do actually need tethering from time to time.

Oh man, that older Moto X used to drive me crazy! Luckily we broke ours and had to upgrade haha… the newer phones are much better (and you have much more variety now with RW than you used to. I’m rocking the Samsung Galaxy Edge for ex.)

Really, I loved that phone, other than having to switch off wifi if the call was of any sort of importance too me. I dropped it on concrete probably 25 times and it was still going strong. Still have it in a drawer somewhere, actually, I should root it and turn it into a gym mp3 player now that my old clip ipod decides for itself when to fast forward and what song it feels like playing… Really I just wish Republic was not on T-Mobile, I know they are better than they used to be but I cant take the chance with my cell being my business phone, thats seriously the only reason I left. If they became a simultaneous dual carrier like Fi is with Sprint and T-Mo I would switch back in a second, well once it was time to get a new phone at least…I have a Note 5 right now and really the more I think about it, I really liked a smaller phone. I really like the iphone SE for its cheapness, size and the fact it has the iphone 6s camera. Being that I’m trying to spend less time looking at my phone I think smaller would be better for me.

This article Rocks! I take a look at my monthly bills every Spring to see if I can cut/save anywhere. Last year when our household went to 2, we cut back on garbage pick up….went down to 1 bag instead of 2 and it saved $5 a month. We currently have a child on our cellphone bill but I was told she will be off as of August due to her company picking up her cellphone cost. We will be looking to see if we can drop the media down to save us a few bucks :)

I have been cleaning out my house for the past two years with the kids moving out and starting their life….It is amazing how much stuff you spend your money on when you have kids and it gets left behind :P

I had the same awakening about 3 years ago. It’s time for me to check everything and make sure nothing has slipped back in! We were even able to reduce our utilities by >$50/month. I was amazed that with a little research just about ANY monthly cost can be reduced. Some are quick and simple, and some do require an investment, such as insulating your attic. However, none are that complicated, and as J. Money says, you can cut hundreds of dollars out of your budget, and your lifestyle actually improves!

Mrs FR and I we got our wake up call 2 years ago, we were proud owners of a car note with $545 a month and one day my wife called me and told that she was laid off.

Living in SFBA is kind of expensive, living in the Bay Area with two kids is more expensive, but living in the area with two kids and a car note just on one salary is really tough. And that was our wake up call, we reviewd all the bills we had, cut off the cable, changed the Internet provider, switched from AT&T to Ting.

We didn’t have Adroid devices at the time, that’s why we chose Ting.

Cutting expenses is extremely important, even more than increasing your income.

Mr. BITA abandoned AT&T for Google FI a year ago. I’m still clinging to AT&T because I am unwilling to give up my iphone. Ting might be the one for me.

On the larger issue of cutting back on recurring bills though – always start with the largest ones and put the Pareto Principle to work to get the biggest bang for your buck. I remember when we first started out on this journey I was obsessing over the $5 coffees that Mr. BITA used to splurge on about once a week. You know what he went after? Our third car.

Agreed. If you cut your expenses by $100 with out changing your income you have $100 to apply towards your next financial goal. If you raise your income by $100 you might only have $60 to apply towards your financial goal thanks to taxes. Even if you are in a state with no taxes and the 10% federal tax bracket you lose 17% right off the top for each dollar earned. Not to mention working longer hours.

Remember to always investigate the pros and cons before cutting the expense. Cell phone service is the perfect example where a lower priced plan could hurt in the long run. It only takes one month of data overeages to wipe out a chunk of savings.

I’ve been with Republic Wireless for a couple years now. I’m on a grandfathered in plan that runs $10 for unlimied talk, text and wifi data and pay for cell data at $1 per 100 mb. Most months, the plan costs $13 to $15 depending on data. My wife has the same plan, so we’re at $25 to $30 total for two lines. It seems silly to pay 5 to 10 times as much as some people do.

I still have Republic Wireless. It works very well for us.
Cutting cable is tough because it’s “free” with internet. We pay less than $10 for various fees and that’s not too bad.
Yeah, I didn’t like have car payments either. That’s why we purchased our last car with cash. Hopefully, we’ll never have to get another car loan.

Ha, before this article even loaded I thought to myself…this is going to be about the phone bill isn’t it?!

My husband and I are currently slaves to AT&T for a glorious $88 a month and apparently that’s supposed to be the gtandfathered in price. How is that good for two people that have WiFi and rarely call or messages. We’ve been looking to switch but we’re putting it off and I have no idea why!!! It must be Stockholm syndrome to our AT&T overlords.

Now that we have five members of the family with phones we’ve found Cricket wireless to be the best. Five lines for $100 out the door and everyone gets 3GB of data. It’s on the AT&T network which works well in Texas.
If it was just the wife and I, we would be on Republic for sure.

I love that excerpt from Mr Money Mustache. Everyday necessity spending, kept at a lower rate than “the Jones’ “, and allowing consistent savings, is a key to creating wealth. It is excellent to minimize what goes out for essential needs, and of course knowing what is not essential or beneficial to oneself, one’s household and one’s goals. Don’t pay interest; be paid interest. Don’t buy worthless insurance policies, whether extended warranty or salaries of insurance middlemen, and in fact, just say No to as many middlemen as you can! Be your own middleman! Haha.

I’m paying 10 euros per month for a sim-only plan with 200 minutes and 1 GB of data. This is in the Netherlands. For me, 200 minutes is plenty. Over the last couple of years, I’ve started to use more data, so now sometimes by the end of the month I get a warning that I’m close to my limit. I’m considering upping my plan to 2 GB of data, which will cost 3 euros extra per month.

$30/month for unlimited texts, calls and 2GB of data doesn’t sound too bad either – especially not if you compare it to others who way over a hundred dollars every month for the privilege of owning a phone and using it every now and then…

I think its all dependent on where you live as to what QOS you get. We use Straight Talk (Walmart) – $45 5GB BYOP or buy one from them. It will use either Verizon or AT&T (area dependent). Used them for several years now all across this country with exceedingly good results.

Loved the Mr. MMM quote – powerful! The term bill coma will be part of my vocabulary going forward – it’s like clutter. If your house/apartment has clutter for a long period of time, it becomes the norm so there isn’t motivation to find places for it.

I’ve been a RW customer for three years and there have only been three situations when it hasn’t been great:
1. My son became a fire fighter after we switched to RW. RW does not support the emergency call network for first responders i.e., a fire alarm. My son ended up switching carriers.
2. International travel. I bought a burner phone and 10 day service while traveling in France this spring. The $40 price for this was small considering the savings we’ve had over the past three years for domestic RW service.
3. I don’t have a gmail account and since my Moto was produced under Google’s ownership, I am not able to back up my contacts. I have lost all of my contacts twice and RW has no answer.

The Challenge series is super motivational, thanks! Already canceled one audiobook subscription (I hate that these days is next to impossible to buy a single electronic thing, everything is subscription based) and next will cancel/switch dns service of one unused domain.

However, as a Finn I find where the savings come is in part quite different. For instance, I find it ridiculous how much Americans have to pay for a basic right such as the Internet ;) our plans here are €10-20 a month, with unlimited 4G data and calls. (Phones you buy separately so no scammy bundles.) Service level covers every part of the country except the wilderness. Also health and retirement plans are part of salary and universities are free. (The tax levels are the same as in New York.) That said, I will definitely want to be able to choose when to retire (not at gov-standard 67) and maybe start my own business again.

I will definitely use this separate account idea for sold stuff – we’ve sold a lot of unused stuff and just used that to lower our daily grocery bill but that way it seems to fritter away.

A pro tip for those who have less discipline (like us): we kept a couple accounts in another bank after switching banks some years ago. I put all my side earnings + joint extra savings there. We don’t see them when we check our normal accounts and morgage -> no temptations to use it and nice surprises whe we do check the accounts! (Also investments are in separate, cheaper investment bank.)

Disclaimer

I, J. Money, only claim the thoughts from my head. I am not a banker, CPA, money manager or anything else of that sort. Please seek a professional for any "real" advice. More info: privacy & disclosure page